Champions of Olympus: Cult of Kalkriese
by xXAnonumosXx
Summary: My name's Dakota, and if you're reading this, welcome to the freakin club. One day, I'm chilling out at school, and the next the Greek gods are suddenly real and I'm on a quest with my wacky friend Brody, trying to stop an ancient cult from rising to power while also rescuing a goddess... Yep. This is my life now.
1. Character Face Claims

Face Claims:

Dak - Cameron Boyce [RIP]

Brody - [Teen] Andy Samberg

Menoetius: Google "ancient greece reloaded menoetius"; first picture.


	2. Chapter 1: My Janitor's a Werewolf

As I slammed the snooze button on my alarm clock, I already knew that I was going to have a bad day. The sun was shining right between the curtains in my room, and directly into my eyes. I groaned and rolled over, covering my head up and refusing to accept that today was the first official day back to school. I mean… the fact that I lived at my school, Edgewater Prep didn't exactly help, but I tried to deny the inevitable anyways. I had an OK summer; all of the kids that stayed at the school year round were either really rich and stuck up or were the 'charity cases', aka the juvy kids. Just imagine being stuck on a bus between a sweaty rock and a snobby hard place… yeah about as fun as it sounds. My summer consisted of 'Education Vacation School', or "EVS". And needless to say that after that, it felt like I didn't even really have a summer at all. I wasn't even tired this morning, either; in fact my squirrely ADHD brain was already thinking about ten thousand things all at once, ranging from "What am I going to wear?" to "If a woodchuck doesn't chuck wood, why is it called a woodchuck?" No, grogginess wasn't the problem; school was. See, I don't really… fit in with the other kids. Oh, most of them treat me just fine, and in fact treat me like royalty, but it's not because I'm the coolest guy in school. It's because of my dad; Jack Lilienthal, the "greatest Olympic sprinter of the century." Having the last name Lilienthal came with a lot of 'extras', like being the only student in the history of Edgewater Prep to have a dorm room all to himself, albeit not because I wanted my own room; my father requested it and the staff 'insisted'. Finally, after going through every stage of grief in about 20 seconds, I hopped out of bed and threw on my jeans, walking over to the closet and grabbing a random tee shirt; this one said "Chemistry is just like cooking… just don't lick the spoon." I yanked it on and walked over to the mirror, raking my hands through my curly hair. I never thought of myself as "handsome"; with freckles splotching my face and cheeks and deep green eyes, "cute" was definitely the word used to describe me if anything. Standing at 5'3", I definitely looked younger than I actually was; along with being the first day of school, today was also my 13th birthday. After taking one last quick look in the mirror, I headed over to the door, before freezing in place. I don't mean to be, but I am incredibly forgetful; it's like a thought will be here one second and just gone the next. I walked over to my dresser, grabbing the worn-looking rubber band and sliding it onto my wrist. One of many gimmicks that the guidance counselor came up with, I played with the rubber band when I got anxious of fidgety. I took in a deep breath, and stepped out the door, walking down the stairs to the main hallway. Once you got out of the dorm area, Edgewater looked just like any other school; lockers lining either side of the hallway and classes splotched here and there. Some students were already rushing all around, talking with one another about what they had done over the summer and what classes they were in; the normal chatter. I made my way over to my locker, and opened it up, grabbing my bag with all my books, and my schedule. My first class was with Mr. Richardson, which meant Algebra. As I trudged to his room, I was intercepted by the self-proclaimed hall monitor Chad. He looked like a bear wearing acne-covered human skin. He had the beginnings of a moustache on his upper lip, and a few stray hairs on his chin. Remember how I said people treat me like royalty? Yeah… there are a few exceptions. A few people here or there who couldn't care less who my dad was. In fact, in Chad's case I had a feeling it just made him hate me even more. He slapped my books out of my hands, grinning down at me as I immediately bent down to pick my stuff back up.

"Oh look; Dakota DOES know how to pick things up. Where's your butler, Lilienthal?" He snarled. Now, my last name is properly pronounced Lee-lin-hall, but Chad always insisted on pronouncing it Lie-lin-thal. I didn't say anything as I picked my stuff up off of the ground. As soon as I stood up, Chad shoved me backwards into the lockers behind me. Almost every head in the entire hallway whipped around as soon as I hit the door, Chad loving the attention as he strutted over to me.

"When are you just gonna leave, Lilienthal? Nobody here even likes you; they're all just afraid of your Daddy." He sneered, pointing one of the sausages he called fingers at me. Despite the situation, I smirked deviously. Here's the problem with me; I always tend to speak before I think. You see, I like to solve my problems with witty comebacks and remarks.

"As soon as Mother Nature apologizes for what she did to your face." I said, trying not to laugh. The few people who had stopped to witness our little scuffle chuckled to themselves, which really got Chad angry. He stepped closer, his grotesque face mere inches away from mine, looming over me like a giant, zitty mountain.

"What did you just say to me, Lilienthal?!" He demanded angrily. I rolled my eyes, scoffing at him.

"Nothing, Chadwick; Just that if your ancestors could see that all their hard work and effort would produce THIS fugly mess, they would have chopped down the family tree and given up!" I laughed, everyone else around laughing as well. Chad grabbed me by the collar and almost raised his fist at me, when suddenly our principal Mr. Shawneson came around the corner, instantly running over and getting between us.

"We will not have any of this; especially on the first day of school!" He commanded, Chad eyeing me like I was lunch. Principal Shawneson looked over at Chad, his eyes narrowing.

"Get to your class, Mr. Thompson." He stated firmly. Chad stood there for a moment before huffing and shouldering his bag, glaring at me one more time before strutting off down the hallway like he had just won some huge victory. Mr. Shawneson turned to me, sighing heavily. I knew what came next.

"I'm so sorry about that, Mr. Lilienthal." He said, saying my last name almost reverently. I ignored it and shrugged.

"It's no big deal." I reassured him with a shrug. He looked me over like he were trying to decide whether or not I needed to be rushed to the hospital for an MRI. After a moment, he nodded, taking a step back.

"Right… well you'd better get to class." He tried to sound serious, but sounded more scared than anything; he felt like if anything happened to me on his watch, my father would personally rain fire down from heaven on him. I turned around and shouldered my pack, making my way to class. I threw my stuff on the floor and plopped down in the seat closest to the window, where I could watch the clouds go by. Look, it's not that I hate learning. I'm just really terrible at it. I can't pay attention to anything for more than 5 seconds, especially when it comes to math and numbers. Or reading. Basically, learning in general. It took a few seconds for the rest of the class to get settled in, but Mr. Richardson soon walked to the front of the class, followed by a student I had never seen before. He was wearing really baggy black denim jeans, and a striped hoodie with a backwards cap on. His messy, shaggy frosty tips jutted out from underneath the cap as he scanned the classroom with a chilled-out looking smile.

"This is Brody Wisteria; he's just transferred in from New York. I expect you all to make him feel welcome." Mr. Richardson droned. My brain pretty much automatically tuned the guy out; he was just so boring. But this Brody kid… he was a different story. There seemed to be something off about him; something that I couldn't really place my finger on. I tried not to stare as he strolled down the aisle, taking the seat next to me. The entire class, I kept glancing over at him, but he seemed to be preoccupied himself, pulling out a leather-bound notebook and opening it up, scribbling something into it. He glanced over at me and smiled, nodding his head slowly.

"Yo dude; what's the haps?" He asked. I really didn't know how to respond; I instantly took off my rubber band and began playing with it mindlessly, my finger feeling like they were moving a thousand miles per hour.

"Nothing really. Um… welcome to Edgewater Prep. Name's Dakota, but my friends call me Dak." I said, forcing a smile. I couldn't shake the feeling that something just wasn't right about this kid. I mean, there had to be a line a mile long to get into Edgewater; it was the most highly respected boarding school on the East Coast; so how in the world did this bohemian kid manage to just… show up on the first day of school? My thoughts were interrupted when he waved his hand in front of my face, that zoned-out grin still plastered on his face.

"Dak… bruh did you even hear me, man?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at me curiously. I swallowed dryly, still smiling.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine! ADHD; sometimes I just zone out." I tried to laugh it off, but the moment I said ADHD it was like I had completely triggered him. His eyes grew wide, scanning me up and down like I was a bomb that was about to explode, and honestly it made me feel pretty uncomfortable. Then, just as soon as he freaked, he returned to his mello, chilled out state.

"Oh man; I've heard that stuff is, like, killer." He said with a smirk, leaning back in his chair.

"Anyways, I was asking you if maybe you wouldn't mind showing me around this place; so I can scope out the sitch." He asked, opening back up his journal and beginning to write furiously once more.

"Oh, yeah… uh, sure." I said, though I wasn't even really sure what 'scoping out the sitch' even really meant. For a moment, I wondered what in the world he could be writing in that journal, but I was immediately distracted by the sound of someone's chair scooting out loudly. I shook my head, for once in my life trying to focus on what Mr. Richardson was teaching… something about factoring and decimals. Anything was better than this weird feeling I got in the pit of my gut every time I looked at Brody; I felt like he was dissecting me with his eyes the entire class. Finally, the bell of my salvation rang. I shot up out of my seat and made my way to the door, but Brody was right on my tail.

"Bro-Dude! Chillax!" He called, placing a hand on my shoulder with a smile. He looked around for a moment before looking back at me.

"This place is, like, mondo HUGE, man! If I lose you I'll be totally lost, lil' homie!" He explained. For a moment, I didn't feel as worried; I mean, look at him! He was barely any bigger than me, and I wasn't exactly the biggest guy in school. I knew I HAD to just be being paranoid.

"Oh, yeah sorry about that. Sometimes when I get in a hurry, I'm super forgetful." I explained. Brody slung his arm around my shoulder, gesturing outwards dramatically.

"As my great-great grandfather once said; "Nature doesn't hurry, but everything like totally gets done." He said, as though he were imparting some great and ancient wisdom on me.

"Ok…" I said. I thought for sure that I sounded completely lost, but my response seemed to be good enough for Brody, who nodded his head like I was starting to learn. Suddenly, that familiar feeling in the pit of my gut resurfaced, but this time it wasn't from Brody; it was from our extremely creepy janitor, Joe. It was honestly hard to tell how tall Joe really was, because he seemed to be perpetually hunched over. Between his long, ratty beard, and his shaggy mop top hair, I don't think anyone had ever seen his actual face. He walked by us in the hallway, pushing his squeaky cart along with him. His eyes were a bloodshot red color, and for some reason he felt the need to stare at us as he walked by. I thought I was imagining things, but I could have sworn I saw both Joe and Brody both sniff at the same time, as if they both smelled something funky. Brody seemed to pick up his pace a little bit, and I had to hurry to keep up.

"Hey, what the heck was that? Do you know Joe?" I asked. Brody immediately regained his composure, looking over at me like I was from a foreign planet.

"That janitor? Come on, bro; quit joshing me!" He said with a laugh that sounded almost exactly like a dolphin. For a moment, I almost pursued his questions further, but was distracted when I saw someone drop their book in the middle of the hallway. Apparently Brody shared all my classes, because all day I was the one who showed him all the classrooms and how to get to the bathrooms and such. At lunch, Brody came over to sit with me at my table, plopping his tray down almost as if to emphasize his presence.

"This place is gnarly sick, man!" He said with a laugh, picking up his pre-wrapped burrito and taking a bite; wrapper and all. I was about to tell him, but before I cold he kept talking.

"So, like… tell me about yourself, Dak." He said, munching on the wrapper burrito. I swallowed hard and smiled; I hated telling people about me.

"Well, not much to tell. I like to read and love music. I love making new friends, and just talking and laughing with them." I explained as vaguely as possible, but Brody sat there staring at me like I had just told him my entire life's story.

"You know, my great-great grandfather once told me; 'Behind every mask there is a face, and behind every face a story." Brody said, with that same attempted 'ancient guru' voice. This time though, I kind of understood what he meant; I was hiding behind a mask a little bit. I sighed and looked up at him.

"My um… my dad's Jack Lilienthal." I finally said almost in defeat. For a moment I didn't even look up at him; I figured he was probably half-way between utter shock and falling to his knees in worship, but when I finally forced myself to meet his gaze he was just sitting there smiling at me like I had just won some personal victory.

"...And? What's your point, dude-bro?" He asked curiously. I blinked twice, not really sure how to respond.

"Well… I guess nothing. It's just… I hate the way people worship my dad like he's some kind of god." I stated. Brody laughed out loud, like I had just told some inside joke. After he calmed down, he leaned forwards a little bit on the table, his eyes growing a bit wider.

"So, like… what about your mom?" He asked. By now the question didn't even phase me.

"Never knew her. Dad didn't talk about her much; all he said was that she was an amazing woman who could do amazing things." I said with a shrug. It seemed like that made Brody more nervous than telling him my dad was a celebrity. Before I could ask him what was wrong, I spotted a familiar hideous face in the crowd, making his way towards me; Chad. As he walked by, I could tell by the look on his face what he was planning, but nothing could prepare me for what happened next. Chad 'tripped', turning his tray towards me as he 'fell', but I felt a tingly sensation go up the back of my neck, and time seemed to almost… slow down as he fell. I could see the burrito slowly slipping off of his plate, his face frozen in a really stupid looking expression, and the rest of his food sliding down the plate. I felt as though I were living in a deja-vu moment; but just as quickly as time stopped, it seemed to slingshot back into action, Chad's tray spilling all over me, his ugly smirking face looking over at me.

"Aww… my lunch! At least I was able to hit the trash." He laughed, his equally ugly friends joining in, a few even hi-fiving him. I stood up and scraped off the rest of the food. The lunch monitor was already there, looking at me like I was a bomb that needed to be defused.

"Mr. Lilienthal, are you alright?" She asked. I sighed, nodding to her.

"Yeah… yeah I'm fine. I'm going to go get a new shirt." I explained. She shook her head up and down so quickly I thought it was going to pop off.

"Absolutely! I'll write you a hall pass for your next class." She said. Brody stepped up, slinging his arm over my shoulder, his left elbow now covered in instant mashed potatoes.

"Can I come with? I like, totes want to see the hang spaces!" He asked. Honestly, I was too focused on the fact that he had just put his arm in the potatoes to really process what he was saying, so I agreed. I walked out of the lunchroom as quickly as possible, making my way back to the main hall. I scanned my 'badge', the light turning green as I opened up the door to the upstairs. As we walked, I thought about what had happened in the lunchroom; how time had felt like it had slowed down by a thousand times. That wasn't the first time that had happened to mee, either; in fact, it happened more than I would like to admit. It never lasted for more than a few seconds, and I always chalked it up to nothing more than deja-vu; but it still bugged me. I threw open my door, and took off my shirt, throwing it into the laundry basket and grabbing a new one, this one said "I'm into fitness...fit'ness taco into my mouth." Brody got a huge kick out of it, laughing his head off sounding like a dolphin after 12 energy drinks. I heard the familiar squeaking of the janitor's cart, looking down the hallway to see creepy Joe staring at Brody and I.

"Brody… you ok man?" I asked. He had seemed to visibly pale, staring Joe right in the eyes with terror.

"Dak… Dak we need to go, dude." He stated firmly. I looked over at him confusedly.

"Dude, class doesn't start for another-"

"No, bro; I mean we need to GO. Now." He said. Before I could ask him if he were completely insane, I saw one of the weirdest and most horrifying things I had ever seen; Joe the Janitor seemed to be… growing. At first I thought that he was just standing up straight, but realized very quickly that something wasn't right; his head looked like it was going to smash through the ceiling. I didn't really stick around much longer, bolting down the stairs right behind Brody, who was sliding down the railing.

"Brody, what the heck is going on?" I demanded. I suddenly heard a loud banging, the metal door 2 floors above us smashing off of its hinges and flying down the hall, clanging onto the ground floor. I looked up, and instantly regretted it. The stairs were pretty dark, but I swear I could make out the outline of what appeared to be a giant, hairy looking creature staring down at us. It looked almost human, but the dim outline of its hands revealed it's razor sharp claws.

"Brody, what the heck man?!" I squealed, picking up the pace. We made it to the door at the bottom of the stairs, and I scanned my card as fast as I could. We ran out of the stairwell, bursting into the commons area. All the students were in their classes, leaving just Brody and I there panting. I jerked my hand towards the stairs, grabbing Brody by the shoulders like a madman.

"Dude, you had better explain right NOW what the heck I just saw!" I demanded. Brody's mouth moved up and down like a fish out of water, but he grabbed my wrist and yanked me over to the front doors of the school. We made it through the first set of doors, but the security guard on duty instantly stopped us.

"Hey, HEY! Where the heck do you think-" The guard never got to finish as the door to the stairs burst open, and the creature stepped through. Joe the janitor was a 7 foot tall werewolf, complete with deadly sharp fangs and claws. I guess that sight must have been a little too much for the guard, who was so dazed that Brody was able to push us right past him and outside of the school. Joe followed right behind us, smashing clean through both sets of glass doors and roaring at us angrily. We took off running across the parking lot, heading towards the forest. Brody looked over at me, his gaze hardening like he had just signed his own death warrant.

"Split up! He's after me not you! Keep running until you reach the forest and don't stop, dude!" He yelled. Before I could even process what he was saying, Brody split off and ran towards the parking lot, Joe the Werewolf making the split second decision to tear off after Brody, growling and roaring at him. I skidded to a stop, my heart racing a thousand mile per hour. I felt that all to familiar tugging in the pit of my stomach, and an odd tingle right on the back of my skull.

"Brody! No!" I screamed. Time seemed to slow down around me, but this time I didn't even really pay attention; I knew that it was impossible, but I needed to get to Brody. I felt a surge of energy coarse through my body; like I had just been jolted by a lightning bolt. I took off running, and it was the weirdest sensation ever. Imagine running at what feels like normal speed, while everything else around you seems like it's been slowed down a thousand times. I looked behind me, and saw a trail of what appeared to be green light streaking behind me as I ran; it looked like what happens when you shake a glowstick back and forth super fast. I turned back around, focusing on my target until I made it over to Brody, reaching out and grabbing him around the waist, and hauling tail out of there. I didn't know where else to go, so I hid us behind the school buses. The moment I stopped running, I felt drained; like I had just run a thousand miles. I could feel the sweat running down my back as I sat there panting as quietly as possible.

"Brody… what-what the heck is going on?!" I heaved. For a moment, he almost looked like a deer in headlights. I reached over and took his arm, looking him dead in the eyes.

"Don't lie to me, man." I warned. I had just done… whatever THAT time-slowing thingy was called, and it was already freaking me out, so I really wasn't in the mood for games. Brody sighed, taking off his shoes. I'm not gonna lie, I almost screamed like a 5 year old when I saw that, where his feet should be, was a pair of cloven goat hooves.

"Bro, I know this seems freaky, but I need you to, like… trust me, ok?" Brody explained, reaching into his fanny pack and reaching his whole arm in. The thing seemed to be bottomless, but finally Brody grabbed onto something, heaving a giant, golden sword out and holding it out to me. The ADHD in me wondered how in the world that sword could have fit into that tiny fanny pack, but I shook the thought off, reaching out and taking the sword by the handle. It felt extremely heavy in my hands, and I had to use both arms just to hold it up. Brody reached into his pack, pulling out a Ukulele.

"Don't worry; I've got your back, Dak." He said confidently. I really didn't see how Surfer-dude goat man Brody and his Ukulele would really be of much help against Joe the giant wolf-man janitor, but then again, what the heck did I know? In a moment of what must have been insanity, I stepped out from behind the bus.

"Here doggy!" I called. The moment Joe's ugly head whipped around my direction, I froze in place. What the heck was I thinking?! As if things couldn't get any weirder, in the midst of this extremely intense and life threatening moment, Brody decided now was an excellent time to begin madly strumming "Over the Rainbow" on his Ukulele. For a second I almost whacked him upside his stupid head; that is, until I saw one of the nearby trees suddenly reach out and wrap around the Werewolf's waist.

"Bro! No time like the present!" Brody yelled, beads of sweat forming on his brow as he strummed wildly. For a second I had no idea what he was saying, until I realized that he wanted me to attack. I ran forwards, the golden sword dragging along the ground as I did. It took almost all of my might just to lift the thing off of the ground, the sheer weight of the blade almost making me fall over, but I managed to swing the blade downwards. Just then, the tree branches snapped, the Werewolf slashing its claws through the remains of the limbs and narrowly dodging the oncoming blade. At first, I thought that I had missed completely, until I saw it; a trickle of golden blood dripping down its matted fur and onto the ground. I looked over at Brody, but he just stood there looking as scared as I was. Joe on the other hand looked absolutely furious baring his teeth at me before charging. Again, I felt the same tug in my gut and tingle in the back of my skull, time seeming to slow down once more. Joe looked like he was almost at a complete stand-still, his fangs still showing and covered in a thick saliva-foam. For a moment, I couldn't help but look around, entranced by the entire situation, but quickly shook the feeling off, turning around and running a little ways away. The moment I stopped running, time seemed to flow normally, but again I felt drained, though admittedly a bit less than the last time. Joe swiped at the air, looking extremely confused before spotting me. Again, I hoisted up the blade, but this time I closed my eyes and concentrated on that feeling in my gut and on the back of my neck. Sure enough, time slowed down once again, and for the first time I noticed that the blade felt a whole lot lighter than before; it was still heavy don't get me wrong, but still noticeably less heavy. I was able to hold it up off of the ground without dragging it, knowing what I had to do. I ran straight at the werewolf, this time slicing clean through him as he hung frozen mid-jump. When time returned to normal, Joe the Werewolf exploded into a cloud of golden dust, which proceeded to coat me from head to toe. For a moment, I just stood there, before the exhaustion overcame me and I collapsed onto the ground. I felt completely drained, like I was going to pass out and my eyeballs were going to melt. Brody rushed over to me, propping my head up and reaching into his fanny pack, grabbing what looked to be a graham cracker square and putting it into my mouth. It tasted nothing like a graham cracker; it tasted like my favorite blackberry pie. Immediately, I felt a million times better; like the strength had been injected straight into me. I quickly stood up, the fear and panic returning as I looked over at Brody. I didn't even need to say anything; he just started spewing.

"Dude… ok, so THAT was a monster."

"DUH! No, you think so?!" I asked sarcastically and an octave higher than my normal voice. Brody ran his hands through his hair, and when he took off his hat, I saw them; 2 horns that looked like little nubs on the top of his head. Suddenly, it all came to me; the goat hooves and horns, with the human appearance.

"You-you're one of those things from the Greek myths… a Saturn!" I said in realization. I could tell that just me saying that was a huge relief for him.

"Satyr, but yeah. Wait, bro; you believe in those myths?!" He asked hopefully. I threw my hands up in defeat

"By now, I'd be willing to believe freakin' Bigfoot exists! We were just attacked by a Werewolf, Brody; a WEREWOLF! And I remember learning about half-goat half-human creatures in history class." I said, Brody nodding.

"Well, brotato-chip; let's just say that, like… satyrs aren't the only thing from those 'myths' that are real." He said, expecting me to fill in the rest.

"So wait; Are-are you talking about like… Zeus and Poseidon and-"

"Yes! They're all real!" Brody interrupted quickly, looking up at the sky like he expected judgment to rain down upon us, but nothing happened. I looked down at my now shaking hands, clenching them into fists.

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with me? I mean, you saw what happened. How the heck did time just… slow down like that?" I asked. Brody looked at me confusedly, shaking his head.

"Slow down? No, dude; You like, totally sped up! You were moving so fast I couldn't even see you!" He exclaimed, "I've never seen any demigod move that fast!". My eyes grew wide in realization; The world wasn't slowing down… I had been speeding up.

"Wait, demigod? Like, child of the gods? THAT kind of demigod?!" I asked, Brody nodding.

"Yeah Dak; exactly like that." For a moment, neither one of us said anything. I mean… it made sense in a completely insane kind of way. It would explain why my mom left my dad, and why I never really knew much about her or ever got so much as a phone call or a single birthday card from her. She was a goddess… holy crap my life is messed up.

"So, what do we do now?" I asked. Brody scratched his chin, looking back at the school then at me.

"Well, we need to get you out of here, dude. Like, after what happened man, this place will be a total monster hot-spot." He said.

"Get out of here? And go where?!" I asked in exasperation. Brody placed a hand on my shoulder reassuringly.

"Don't worry, Dak. I, like… totally know a place."


	3. Chapter 2: Meeting a Goddess

A thousand thoughts raced through my head as Brody dragged me through the forest, occasionally glancing behind us before trudging ahead. Finally, after what felt like hours, I had enough. I yanked my arm free from Brody's grip, planting my feet firmly.

"Brody,stop! This is crazy! I just met you this morning! Before today, the weirdest thing that I had ever seen was a platypus! Then you show up and all of a sudden there's monsters and super powers and gods… What the heck is going on?! I need some answers, man! And not just 'Hey dude, the gods are real! Now let's go run away to somewhere' " I yelled, Brody instantly shushing me and looking around in a panic. After he made sure I hadn't just attracted an entire pack of giant, man-eating wolves, he looked over at me sadly; like I had some horrible fate awaiting me that I didn't even know about. He sighed, taking a seat on a nearby rock, and gesturing for me to do the same. After I sat down, Brody drew in a long breath; I could tell that things were about to get real.

"Alright, bro; the Roman gods… they're all real. Have been since ancient have all of the power that you read about in the myths… just sometimes in a little bit different ways. The monsters from those "myths"; they're also real. Super dangerous creatures, dude. And they're out for one thing: blood" Brody explained.

"Like the Werewolf that almost ate us for lunch?" I questioned, Brody nodding.

"Well, if you wanna get technical and junk it was a Crocotta. But yeah. Most importantly, demigods- the children of gods and mortals- they're real too. They live among humans, many times not even knowing what they are until it's too late." Brody finished, looking over at me sorrowfully. I swallowed the dry lump that had formed in my throat, taking off my rubber band and fidgeting with it madly.

"So, my mom…" I started to ask if she was goddess, but by now that question seemed stupid to ask. I had just run at speeds no mortal human should ever be able to; I definitely wasn't normal. Honestly, in one twisted way it made me feel relieved; At least I knew there was a reason that I never felt like I fit in at school.

"Who was she?" I asked, but Brody shook his head.

"Impossible to tell, dude; at least until she claims you. That usually happens around your age too, man; that's when your scent grows strongest." Brody said. Almost against my will, I sniffed my armpit. I mean, sure I smelled like B.O. and monster dust, but other than that I didn't really smell anything different. Brody actually laughed, his dolphin-pitched squeaks echoing through the forest.

"Man, Dak you are hilarious! You can't smell the difference, but monsters and some other creatures can. Trust me, bro; the smell is there. And I haven't smelled one this powerful since I was last at Camp." He said, scratching at the little hairs that barely sprouted on his chin.

"Wait, Camp? What Camp? Like… like summer Camp?" I asked, now completely confused. What in the world did some crummy Summer Camp have to do with gods and goat men.

"Yeah… something like that. We'll be safe there, lil' homie." He promised, and somehow, despite the insanity of it all, I felt a tinge of hope that maybe he was right.

"Are-are there others there? Like… like me?" I asked hesitantly. Brody looked over his shoulder and smiled at me reassuringly.

"Oh yeah, bro; there's other demis there; but I must admit, I've never met a demigod who could do the things you do." He explained, reaching out and grabbing a tin can off of the ground.

"Righteous! Nature's finest!" He exclaimed, taking me by complete surprise as he took a huge bite out of the can. In all the action and excitement, I had almost completely forgotten that Brody was actually a goat-boy.

"Are there other satyrs there too?" I asked, Brody nodding vigorously.

"Oh yeah, there's plenty of fauns there! Some of them are even my cousins!" He said, bits of tin falling from his mouth as he spoke. Suddenly, something dawned on me.

"Brody, if this Camp is so safe and secure; why in the world were you at Edgewater Prep?" I asked. His expression seemed to harden, making him look almost ominous, which is really hard to do with bits of tin in your goatee. He cleared his throat, and for the first time I noticed that he had a leather satchel slung around one of his shoulders. He gripped in tighter the minute I asked, and I could tell something was up.

"Well, broski; the thing is… What I was actually doing was… I was…" He stuttered, looking like a goat in headlights. My eyes narrowed; I wasn't in the mood to be lied to. That seemed to make Brody even more uncomfortable, beads of sweat visible on his forehead as he stood there stuttering.

"Brody… I just fought a giant Cortec..Corsect… werewolf thing with you! I could have died! And now you're standing here hiding something from me?" I demanded, and that was the straw that broke the camel's back, Brody practically bursting at the seams.

"I was searching for something!" He squealed. For a minute, neither one of us said anything. I mean, that really didn't explain much, and Brody must have been able to tell by the look on my face that I still didn't understand.

"I was sent on a mission to find a very… special object; one the gods have been pursuing for a very long time, man." He continued, looking around suspiciously before reaching into his bag and pulling out the leather journal I had seen him writing in. He flipped through its tattered pages, and I caught glimpses of sketches and letters from an alphabet I couldn't identify, until Brody stopped about a fourth of the way through the massive book, to the last entry; his entry.

"The item I'm looking for; we fauns have been secretly searching for it for centuries; the gods thought it was lost forever, but when my great-great-great grandfather told them that he could smell something peculiar and powerful, they granted him permission to go on a quest to find and retrieve this ancient object." He said, pointing to the top of the page. The coordinates for Edgewater Prep were listed at the very top, as was a detailed report of the school, of the "powerful aura" there, and of me.

"What exactly is this… item?" I asked curiously. Brody simply shrugged, flipping backwards through the pages until he came to a stop on a hand drawn map of the USA, with lines drawn across it in purples and blues and reds, connecting points here and there, but in general not really leading anywhere.

"We have no idea dude; but the gods call it κιβώτιο." He said.

"The Box?" I asked, shocking myself that I actually understood what he had said. Brody nodded, looking off into the distance as he continued.

"Not even they know much about it; but it smells different than any other monster or demigod… or even the gods. And…" He said, reaching into his shirt and pulling out a necklace I hadn't noticed he was wearing. It was a plain leather band, with a very old looking key hanging from it. It looked to be made of a black metal, but when I looked closer it almost looked like color was… shifting around; like it was made of metallic black smoke.

"We know that this key is somehow connected to it. My great-great grandfather found this key while he was searching for the item." He said proudly.

"What ended up happening to him?" I gestured to the journal entry which looked unfinished. Brody deflated a bit, tucking the key back under his shirt.

"He… he never made it back. He died protecting this key and its secrets." He explained. I shook my head in confusion, walking side-by-side through the forest with him as we talked.

"But, I thought you said that the gods and the satyrs were the only ones who know about the Kibotio?" I asked. Again, Brody's expression grew dark, and I felt as though he were almost a different person entirely.

"When the gods found out about this ancient item, their first instinct was to send out their demigod children to aid the fauns in their search for it. For a while, they seemed to be making excellent progress; the fauns were able to track the Kibotio while the demigods were able to fight off the powerful monsters that seemed attracted to it as well." He explained. I must have looked shocked, because Brody raised an eyebrow at me with a tiny smile.

"Well, what happened?" I asked. Brody's smile vanished almost instantly. He swallowed hard before continuing.

"Something… changed the demigods... they killed the fauns they were searching with, and stole all of their research; Well," Brody corrected, patting his satchel. "Almost all of it. My great grandpa managed to give this final journal to a nymph before he was caught…. And never seen again." He ended sadly. I didn't really know what to say, but after a moment of silence I finally worked up the courage.

"What ended up happening to these… rouge demigods?" I asked in wonder. Brody simply shrugged in response.

"No one really knows." He admitted. For a minute, I just sat there thinking about what he had told me, but something didn't add up in my head.

"But… what does any of this have to do with me? Or you being at Edgewater?" I questioned, Brody looking quite embarrassed when I asked.

"Well… here's the thing bro; sometimes, my nose doesn't really… work all that well. I could have sworn I was smelling the Kibotio. It wasn't until I actually met you I realized it… was actually you I was smelling." He admitted. I was about to say something sarcastic and probably rude, but Brody suddenly stopped, gesturing for me to do the same. He looked like he could hear something that I couldn't.

"Someone's coming this way." He whispered. I could feel my heart beginning to race once again as the reality of the past 3 hours finally started sinking in; this was my life now. Constantly running from monsters who probably wanted to eat me. And my only companion was a bohemian goat-boy. At first I thought that maybe it was a false alarm… that is until I heard the thwip of a bow being fired. Once again everything seemed like it was going in slow motion. I turned around just in time to see an arrow suspended in the air, and a gothic looking girl standing up behind a bush. I didn't waste any time, jogging over to the slow-moving arrow and taking it out of the air, snapping it in half and tossing it towards the ground. The minute it left my hands, the 2 halves hung in the air just like the arrow had, slowly drifting downwards. I ran over to the girl, taking the bow out of her hands and running back over to Brody. Time seemed to flow normally, the shattered arrow hitting the ground and the girl seeming to just realize her bow was missing. It was actually getting easier and easier to pull off that little trick; I felt much less tired than the past few times.

"What… how did… What?" The girl asked, clearly confused, annoyed, and angry. She hopped out from the bush she was hiding behind, about 20 other girls seeming to just materialize out of nowhere. She glanced over at Brody, immediately holding her hand up. The other girls froze in place.

"Hang on, ladies; this one's a satyr." The girl said, gesturing to Brody before locking her eyes onto me. I raised an eyebrow curiously, staring right back at her. Look, I've been pushed around by plenty of people in my life; I knew how to stand my ground. The girl scoffed, turning to the rest of her group.

"And this one's clearly a demigod." She said, walking straight past me like I didn't even exist.

"Sup? The name's Brody. You must be one of the Hunters, right? Totally wicked!" He exclaimed. The girl didn't really react, simply eyeing Brody up and down, like she was trying to figure out how useful he could possibly be.

"I take it that you're trying to get this one," She said, gesturing over at me.

"To Camp." She said. The way she said 'this one', like I was some kind of pet, really got under my skin.

"Um, excuse me Emo, this one has a name." I stated firmly, instantly regretting opening my fat mouth as she turned around and glared at me. I tried not to let it show, but she was quite intimidating, especially considering the fact that she looked to be a few years older than me. She glared at me so hard I thought that my head was going to pop off, but eventually she stopped, decided to just scowl at me instead. Suddenly, all of the girls parted like the Red Sea, one of them walking through the opening and right up to me. She looked to be about my age, and was maybe a little bit taller than I was. Her auburn hair waved around a bit in the wind, framing her face perfectly. Her eyes were a very stunning silver color, like the color of the full moon on a clear summer's night. She eyed me up and down, and I couldn't help but stare at her.

"Um… hi. Wow… you have… very pretty eyes; what color are they, like a grey? Or white? I can't really tell, but they're cool."I admitted. ADHD brain strikes again; if I think a girl is cute, my brain just shuts down any filter I might have had. All of the girls reached for their bows, grumbling about me "insulting their lady" and a few comments about "chauvinist pigs" being thrown into the mix for good measure. For a second, the silver-eyed girl's eyes glowed bright silver, her jaw locking a bit tighter as she stood to her full height, definitely having about a fourth of an inch on me. She held up her hand, and all of the bows immediately went back to the girls' sides. I glanced over at Brody, who was waving me off. He mouthed something to me, but to me it looked like "All the miss.", which just confused me even more. I looked back at the girl once more, but by then she had seemed to calm down a little bit.

"You are brave to speak to me in such a manner, boy." She said, saying "boy" like it were some personal insult. For a second, I completely forgot how scary she had just looked a few seconds ago; I mean, she looked like she was just a kid like me.

"Oh, sorry if I offended you; sometimes my mouth works quicker than my brain. My name's Dakota, but my friends call me Dak." I said, sticking out my hand. She stared at it for a moment, and I could have sworn I saw a tiny smirk playing at the corner of her mouth, but it vanished just as quickly as she took my hand softly.

"Artemis" She announced. I smirked widely, shaking her hand and letting it go.

"Wow… Artemis. That's a really cool- holy shiznit." I deadpanned. Artemis; that's what Brody had been mouthing to me.

"You mean… THE Artemis? Like… goddess of the moon and eternal maiden huntress?" I asked. The girl raised an eyebrow at me like 'are you REALLY that dense?'

"I'm so sorry if I offended you; I had no idea that you were… wait, why is a 2000 year old goddess still 13? Did you not age past 13? Is that why you're a maiden? Are all the Olypian gods teenagers? Do your arrows seriously never miss? Do you really have a moon chariot?" I asked, questions just spilling out of my mouth. This is what happens when I panic; an impromptu game of 220 questions. For a moment, she just stared at me emotionlessly, and I thought for sure that she was going to annihilate me right there, but after what felt like an eternity, she simply rolled her eyes and sighed.

"I can take on any form I desire, and this form is the average age of my Huntresses. Yes, I aged past 13. No, that is not why I am a maiden; I am a maiden because men are pigs. No, all the Olympians are not teenagers… though I swear they all act like it sometimes. My arrows always hit their targets and yes; I have a moon chariot." She answered. I kind of just stood there, blinking and taking it all in.

"Wow… That's awesome!" I said excitedly. I couldn't help but smile; I mean, I was literally talking to a freaking goddess; how cool is that?! Artemis turned to Brody, who had pulled out another can and was chomping away.

"Satyr; I take it you were escorting… Dak to Camp Half-Blood?" She asked. My smile grew even more when she said Dak; I assumed that meant we were friends.

"Yes, my lady!"He said, but with his mouth full of tin it sounded like "Bess my Bladey" She looked back at me for a second, then to her hunters.

"We were headed that direction anyways; we'll make sure you make it there safely." She said, Brody looking extremely relieved.

"Thanks so much, Artemis! I mean, Lady Artemis?" I asked. I had no idea how to address a goddess, and I kept forgetting that she even WAS a goddess because she looked so much like Tracy Collins, this girl from Edgewater I totally had a crush on. Again, it looked like Artemis was trying not to smirk, and did an extremely good job at it.

"Let's get moving." She insisted, looking over her shoulder at me and smirking.

"Try not to slow us down." She said, and I actually laughed.

"Ouch! That's kind of harsh… my lady." I insisted. I smirked deviously, closing my eyes and concentrating on that familiar feeling. Time slowed down and I surged ahead of everyone, leaving them in the dust by about 30 yards before stopping and standing there, arms spread jokingly.

"Try and keep up, your highness!" I called playfully, taking off through the forest once again.


	4. Chapter 3: Channeling Your Fear

Have you ever been in the car, and rolled the window down to stick your head out? You know; the feeling of the wind on your face, the feeling of freedom that never fails to lift your spirits at least a little? Well, that's exactly how it feels to run at superspeed; well… after you get over the fatigue and get used to it. The hunters of Artemis were moving at incredible speeds through the forest themselves; but they just couldn't keep up with superspeed. I would run ahead about 50 yards or so, then stop and wait for them to catch up. After we travelled for most of the daylight, Artemis told us we were setting up camp, the hunters putting up their tents so quickly you would have thought THEY had the super speed. A few of the hunters…. Ok, so MOST of the hunters, were grumbling about a boy being even near their camp; I really didn't understand it, but they were acting like I had the bubonic plague or something. They set Brody and I up a camp about 20 yards away from all the other tents, complete with sleeping bags and everything. After we all got settled in, Artemis told her hunters that they were not permitted to leave their tents for the rest of the night, except to use the bathroom of course. For about a half an hour, I laid there in my sleeping bag, listening to the sounds of nature; the crickets chirping, a tiny spring gurgling softly…. Brody snoring like a freaking chainsaw. It was one of those deafening snores that literally makes your ears ring and makes you forget your middle name. I tried to ignore it, but after a while I just couldn't take it any longer. I threw off my sleeping bag and snuck outside. The night sky was clear and bright, and the stars seemed to be shining just a little bit brighter than usual. I sat down next to the stream, leaning back on my palms and staring up at the sky.

"Beautiful, aren't they?" A voice called out from beside me, making me literally jump. I whipped my head around to see Artemis sitting there next to me, gazing up at the constellations herself.

"Man, you scared me, Artemis! Warn a guy next time!" I laughed, but instantly stopped. I kept forgetting that she was an immortal goddess with the power to kill me in about 2000 different ways as she sat there.

"I'm sorry, Lady Artemis… I didn't really-If I offended you I didn't mean to-" I started to explain, but was cut short when I noticed her laughing; a real, hearty laugh. I pouted a little bit, my eyebrows furrowing.

"You're laughing at me. Why are you laughing at me?" I asked. After she calmed down, she finally looked over at me with a smile.

"You are not like other males; you are so timid and nervous around me and my hunters." She said.

"Well, you're a goddess! And they've all been trained to kill with pokey, stabby things; I just joined the "Hey-the-greek-gods-are-real" club like… yesterday! I don't know how to use a sword or knife, or shoot a bow and arrow. And I'm 99.9% sure that the emo one wants to kill me!" I squealed, my voice an octave higher than it usually was. She raised an eyebrow at me, studying me as if trying to make a decision. Finally, she must have made up her mind. She stood up, spreading her hands like she was holding something. For a minute, it was all silent, but just as I was about to speak up, a bright flash came from her palms, forcing me to look away. When the light was gone. Artemis was holding what appeared to be 2 blades in a crossguard; the kind that you wear around your waist like a belt, and the 2 sheaths cross and form an X shape. The handles themselves were made of a dark almost black wood, but when she pulled one of them out, it glowed a bright silver color.

"Whoa… those are beautiful." I admitted. My eyes must have been pretty huge, because Artemis actually smiled, admiring the blades herself.

"Do you know what kind of blades these are?" She asked curiously. I shook my head; I literally had zero clue.

"They're called pugio; Roman foot soldiers used to carry them. They were used for fast, precise strikes." Before I could even respond, Artemis held the blades out to me.

"I can't take these from you!" I insisted. She looked a bit shocked at my response, but not in a bad way; she looked almost impressed.

"Take? No; these are a gift. And you'd be careful not to refuse a goddess' gift." She said, as though reminding me exactly who she was. I carefully took them out of her hands, just standing there and admiring the designs on the handles. After a minute, I carefully strapped the belt on, making sure the blades were settled right on my lower back, where I could easily reach down and pull them out. I unsheathed the blades, holding them up in the moonlight and admiring the way it shined off of them.

"Ok, this is freaking sweet!" I said, swinging them around a little bit. They felt much lighter than I originally expected; like they were made of aluminum.

"What are these made of?" I asked curiously, looking up to see that she had materialized a sword for herself. She examined her own blade, which looked to be made of the same metal as mine.

"A special silver, forged by the cyclops and cooled in the River Phlegethon; it will kill any creature you may come across." She explained. I smiled, resheathing the blades

"Thank you. Now, all I need to do is learn how to actually USE them." I laughed. Artemis nodded, a smile growing on her face.

"Yes you do, Dak." She said, placing her hand on my shoulder. Suddenly, a bright light flashed all around us, forcing me to close my eyes. When I opened them, we were standing in a large, open field. I whipped around, honestly more than a little disoriented.

"What the-where-?" I stuttered.

"I took us to the clearing just beyond our camp; far enough away that we won't wake the others." She explained. I shook my head, still feeling a bit dizzy.

"Wake them doing what?" I asked. Even slightly blurry-eyed, I could see Artemis sigh and pull her blade out of its sheath.

"If you are to survive out in the mortal world, you will need to know the proper way to defend yourself against attackers." She stated. For a minute, I didn't understand; that is, until she charged at me, swinging her blade. I barely had enough time to duck as her blade passed right over the spot where my head used to be. I whipped out my Pugio, looking more than a little bit shocked.

"You-you could have sliced my head off!" I cried, but Artemis shook her head.

"Your mind is hard-wired for battle. Look at your stance; the way you hold yourself even though you lack any formal training." She said, gesturing at me. I looked down hesitantly; my feet were spread perfectly, and I felt ready to either stand my ground or duck out of the way. Again she sprang at me, and this time I ducked out of the way, but not before she was able to knick my arm, and little trickle of blood finding its way down.

"What you lack is finesse; you need to learn proper bladesmanship." She continued. This time I stood my ground. I was able to barely deflect the first strike with the smaller knives; Artemis may have looked 13, but blocking her swing felt like the equivalent of trying to stop a freight train; I could feel my teeth rattle as metal met metal.

"Where's that inhuman speed you were using earlier?" She questioned. I tried to focus on that certain feeling, but in the heat of battle while trying to fend off a goddess, I just couldn't seem to find it; my brain was moving way too fast for me to focus on even a single thought, much less summon my speed. She attacked yet again, charging at me head on. This time, her movements were more calculated and precise; each swing hit my blades just right so that I had to really try to recover. I was wearing down quickly, and she could see it.

"If you are to stand any chance, you must channel that power I saw earlier." She commanded. Again, I tried to focus on that feeling at the base of my spine, but it just didn't seem to be there. She swung downwards, and I was too slow to react, rolling off to the side and feeling another cut on my other arm. Artemis stood still, not looking the least bit fatigued as I huffed and grabbed at my arm.

"Dak." She said softly and almost kindly. "I know that you are scared. Even I feel fear when going into battle. But you must not let fear control you; instead, use this energy to guide you. Let it fuel your thoughts, making you think faster and process faster. Channel it into focus." She explained. I closed my eyes, and took in a deep breath. Yes, I'm in a battle; a battle I'm going to lose if I don't focus. I could hear Artemis charging me once again, but I didn't care. I kept my eyes closed, forcing the fear into focus. When I opened my eyes, Artemis looked like she were frozen mid-charge. I looked around, realizing that I was moving at superspeed once again. Smirking, I ran straight past her, stopping on the other side of the field. Artemis swung right where I was standing, clearly more than a little bit shocked and confused, but instantly realized what had happened, an actual smile spreading across her face.

"Well done, Dak; let's see how you fair when I do not hold back." She said, my eyes growing wide. For a moment, I almost wavered, and I could feel that buzzing feeling going away, but I shook my head. Focus… I've got to channel my fear into focus. I shifted my feet, and gripped my daggers a bit tighter.

"Whenever you're ready." I called confidently, her smile growing as she charged at me. She was moving way faster, to the point where she almost looked like a blur. But when I started running, the blur slowed down, until she looked like she were moving in semi-slow motion; definitely faster than being completely frozen still, but not quite fast enough to be moving normally; at least, that's what it looked like to me. Her first swing was a horizontal swipe which would have sliced me in half, but I sidestepped out of the way. She flew past me, the blur coming to a stop. Artemis turned around, looking almost shocked, but hid it immediately, charging again. This time she moved even faster, and was barely slower than normal, even time slowed down. Still, I was able to dodge out of the way of her vertical slice, raising my blade to block it. This time, it didn't hurt; it felt more like an unstoppable force meets an immovable object; I knew that our blades clashed, but it felt more like fighting with Nerf blades than metal ones. Again, time went back to normal, the two of us standing there, our blades still locked. Artemis looked more than just impressed; it was almost confusion.

"You are very skilled, Dak… and very fast. I have never locked blades with a mortal who could move at such speeds." She admitted. I felt really weak and trembly, like my arms were noodles and my legs were jelly.

"Thanks… wow, I am spent. I think...I think I need to sit down." I announced, collapsing onto the ground. My vision was going blurry, but the last thing I remember seeing before I passed out was Artemis sighing and reaching her hand down towards me.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I woke up back at the camp, in my tent. Brody was still sawing away, and for a moment I thought that last night had all been a dream. I mean, sparring with a goddess, who tells you that you've done a really good job? It had to be a dream. That's what I thought at least; until I saw the familiar leather belt sheath with the 2 twin blades tucked away neatly inside. I reached over and gently felt the familiar smooth, wooden handles of the pugio blades Artemis had given me.

"So… it was real." I whispered.

"What was real, lil' homie?" Brody asked, scaring the crap out of me. I'd like to say I screamed a manly war-cry, but… it sounded more like a 5-year old girl.

"What the HECK Brody?! You gave me a freaking heart attack!" I cried, but he was too busy rolling around and sounding like a dolphin call to hear me. I stood up and stretched, still feeling a little bit sore and tired from last night…. Ok, a lot bit. I felt like I had just gotten hit by a truck after waking up at 2am. Everything ached; my bones, my muscles, my legs especially. It was like moving that fast had drained me a thousand times faster than normal, and I hated it. I followed the scent of food to a large tent in the middle of the camp, standing just outside of the entrance.

"Um… Lady Artemis?" I called. For a moment, no one answered.

"Dakota, you may enter." She called, sounding amused. I slowly stepped inside, all of the hunters already sitting around a massive table. They were all looking at me, but their glares were slightly less pointed, like I was a blind squirrel who had somehow managed to find itself a nut.

"Hi everyone. So… would it be alright if I-"

"Sit and eat, Dak. I give you permission. I can't exactly let you starve to death before we make it to camp." Artemis interrupted.

"Thanks. I'm really hungry!" I admitted. I scanned the seats for a place to sit, deflating when I realized that the only place that was open was next to Emo. She was already glaring at me like I was her annoying little brother, and I didn't have the slightest clue why. I walked over, sitting down slowly, a plate materializing in front of me.

"Whoa! Cool!" I said, emo rolling her eyes. Out of habit, I glared at her, but stopped just as quickly. There was something about her that radiated power; like 'if you cross me, I WILL kill you' My plate filled with eggs, bacon, and pancakes with syrup, a glass of orange juice appearing as well. So, have you ever had that feeling of hunger, where your stomach actually starts growling and you feel like you could literally eat forever? Yeah, imagine if that feeling just wouldn't go away, no matter how much you eat. That's pretty much how I felt as I ate plate after plate of breakfast, and chugged at least 5 glasses of orange juice. I could almost feel every eye in the room on me as I ate; and to be honest I don't really blame them. When a tiny little 11 year old looking boy eats enough food to feed a family of 5, that pretty much warrants the stares. Finally, my stomach started feeling like it was filling up normally again, and after a few more plates I was completely stuffed.

"Wow, that was really good! Thanks, Artemis!" I said. Her response was a barely audible 'Uh-huh'; even SHE was staring in awe at the amount of food I had just consumed. I felt really uncomfortable, so I excused myself from the table, walking back to our tent.

"Hey! Foodfest!" I heard someone call, surprised to see emo jogging after me. At first, I was nervous, but when I saw her trying to hide a smirk I could tell I was ok.

"Sup…" I hesitated.

"Thalia." She supplied. I smiled, sticking out my hand. She took it without hesitation.

"Dakota, but my friends all call me Dak." I explained.

"Ok then, Dak. Lady Artemis instructed me to tell you that she is going to be teaching you some basic bladesmanship today." She explained, and I accidentally groaned.

"But my arm are tired! And my legs are sore!" I complained, but Thalia didn't seem to sympathise, raising an eyebrow at me. I looked right back at her curiously, before sighing and crossing my arms.

"Alright, alright." I finally gave in. Thalia nodded, like I was finally starting to learn something. She held out a brown paper bag I just noticed she was holding, her expression still stoic and hardened.

"And she also wanted me to give you this; she told me that she expects you to clean yourself up before you meet with her." Thalia ended quickly. Before I could even ask, she was already walking away. I don't know why, but for some reason my ornery acted up.

"Thanks a ton, emo!" I called. Thalia literally stopped dead in her tracks, and I took that as my cue to leave, sprinting off to my tent in a gust of wind. When I got there and calmed down a little bit, I opened up the brown bag, shocked and excited by what I found. I quickly pulled out the clothes, and put them on. A new pair of blue jeans, a black t-shirt that had a centaur on it and said "Centaur of Attention", and the coolest thing; a silver leather racer jacket, that fit me just right, cut just enough so that the blades I wore could still be reached. I stepped out of the tent just as Brody was coming back. He whistled lowly, a smirk already on his face.

"A-Broham Lincoln! Lookin' good!" He said, nodding his head slowly in approval.

"I know! How cool is this!" I practically squealed in excitement. The jacket felt extremely light weight, but it provided a sense of comfort; like wearing a suit of armor. A few of the hunters saw me, and looked quite shocked, like I was breaking some secret, unspoken rules. I was to busy enjoying the new clothes to really notice, speeding off to the same field Artemis and I had trained at the night before.

"Dakota. I'm glad you decided to finally show up." She said. She sounded like a school teacher scolding a child for being late to class. I smiled brightly and shrugged playfully.

"Sorry… I was getting changed. Thanks so much for the sweet clothes though! They are seriously awesome! And hey; I kinda look like one of your hunters! Well, I mean… aside from the awesome t-shirt." I added, Artemis nodding.

"Yes, I thought you would enjoy that. It's actually my brother Apollo's, but I'm sure he won't mind." She explained. For a second, I paused, looking up at her curiously.

"Not that I don't appreciate it, please don't misunderstand me, but… I thought that you kinda hated men, so-"

"You're trying to figure out why I'm being so kind to you." She ended, and I couldn't help but nod. She smiled at me a little bit, as though I had done something right and didn't even know it.

"Because you are just a boy; one who has had his entire world altered quite literally overnight. And because as of recently, I have met men who reminded me that not all men are pigs." She admitted, looking off into the distance reminiscently. After a moment, she looked back at me, placing her hand on her blade.

"Well, Dak; are you ready to resume-" She never got to finish as shouting erupted from the camp. Even from there, we could see a very odd looking cloud of smoke enshroud the base. I looked over at Artemis worriedly, but she looked every bit as confused and nervous as I was. She glanced over at me, and didn't even need to say a word. I took off running towards the camp, Artemis disappearing in a bright flash of light.


	5. Chapter 4: I Basically Almost Die

I sped back into camp, and was greeted with a lungful of smoke. It wasn't smoke from a fire; more like the kind of smoke you would use in a smoke machine at a rock concert… only thicker and impossible to see through. I looked around and tried to get my bearings, but it wasn't working…. That is, until I heard the sound of blades clanging nearby. I rushed over to find 2 of the hunters being backed up against a rock ledge by some of the assailants. The men were dressed in all-black Roman armor, wearing the same masks as the one Brody had shown me in his journal. I didn't have much time to stand around staring, rushing in to help. As time stood still, I looked around for any way to disarm the men. I saw a bundle of rope over near one of the tents, rushing over and wrapping it around the men a few times and pulling. They all dropped to the ground, extremely confused by the sudden arrest. I smiled at the hunters, before taking off. Along the way I ran into a few more of the masked men, shoving one and tripping the other, not slowing down at all. I came skidding to a halt when I saw Thalia fighting off 4 of the armored men at once. She blocked one swipe with her wicked looking shield, then swung a long, bronze spear and swept one of the men out from underneath. She was holding her own, but 4 on 1 she didn't stand a chance. One of the men tried to flank her from behind, and that's when my brain finally realized it was probably time to actually DO something. I sped in, knocking the guy out of the way and sending him careening down a nearby hill, whipping out my blades and standing back-to-back with emo queen.

"What? I think I just totally saved your life." I commented with a smirk, Thalia looking first shocked, then annoyed.

"You didn't save anything, Foodfest. I-" She paused as she disarmed one of the men with her spear, then smashed him in the face with her shield, knocking him out cold.

"-Had everything under control." She finished. One of the masked attackers decided to come my way. I sped around him in a blur, undoing all of his armor and taking his sword from him, stabbing it into the ground and leaning on the handle. When time reverted to normal, his armor slowly fell off of him, leaving him in his boxers. I tried to stifle a laugh, but couldn't help it.

"Bummer, dude." I chuckled, swinging the butt of my Pugio into his helmet and sending him sprawling. After taking out a few more of them, Thalia turned to face me.

"Dakota, where's Lady Artemis?" She asked. I shrugged, looking around to nothing but smoke from all directions.

"I don't know; she did that flashy-light thing and kinda zapped herself back here." I explained, Thalia seeming to understand.

"You stay here. I'm going to go look for her." She commanded.

"What? No, I can help!" I said, but the look in Thalia's eyes spoke volumes.

"No, Dakota; you haven't had enough training. You could get hurt." She insisted. I couldn't believe it; I had just rescued a few hunters, AND helped her take out more than a couple of these losers; why didn't she trust me? Before I could respond, she took off into the smoke, leaving me standing there alone. For a minute, I was tempted to chasing after her, but decided against it. Suddenly, something bumped into me, and made me scream. I whipped around, pointing my blade directly at Brody, who had his hands up defensively.

"Whoa, dude! It's me! Chillax!" He cried. I quickly lowered my blade, breathing out a sigh of relief.

"We've GOT to get a bell for you, Brody!" I exclaimed. He looked around nervously, clearly not built for the heat of battle.

"Dak, Did you see the masks?" He asked, his eyes darting from side to side.

"Yeah… I saw the masks. What do you think they're here for?" I asked, Brody immediately shaking his head.

"I've got no clue, broseph; anyone crazy enough to attack the hunters of Artemis are freaking loco!" He whispered. Suddenly, his eyes widened in realization.

"I've got to get this journal out of here!" He exclaimed, holding up his satchel. I looked around, trying to see the edge of the camp. Finally, I was able to spot a little opening in the smoke; it looked like it was starting to clear out a bit. I reached over and grabbed Brody by the straps of his satchel, taking off in a gust of wind. When I was running, everything seemed weightless; I felt like I could bench-press a car. I ran Brody into a forest, far enough away from all the action that he would be safe.

"Ok, so like… what's the plan, brotato chip?" Brody asked. Before I could even admit that there really was no plan, I heard a scream come from back at the camp; the same direction Thalia had taken off towards. I pulled out one of my daggers, looking back at Brody.

"You stay here, and keep those things safe; I'm gonna go help out Artemis." I instructed. I didn't wait for him to object, speeding back into camp and looking around for them. I was really getting tired of all the smoke, but it had cleared out enough that I was able to see things from a distance; which is exactly when I saw him. A massive looking warrior, standing about 7 feet tall and having the body build of a tank. The guy looked like he would use trees for toothpicks. His eyes were glowing a bright, bloodthirsty red, and had a look about them of pure rage and hatred. I'd seen a lot of scary things in the past 24 hours, and I'm certain that I'll see plenty more… but I know for certain that this creature was by far the scariest thing I had ever seen and probably will ever see. It didn't help the fact that I could see both Thalia and Artemis off to the side, looking pretty beat up. Artemis had more than a few cuts and scrapes, golden blood trickling from her mouth and wounds. Thalia didn't look much better herself, clearly having taken a beating. The giant monster man started slowly trudging towards Artemis, and I got a better look. His skin was an odd green color, and looked like it was made of snakeskin. He had 2 goat-like horns protruding from either side of his head, and was wearing Roman gladiator armor. When he spoke, his voice was deeper than humanly possible, with a razor sharp edge to it.

"You have something we need, goddess." He bellowed, reaching down towards Artemis. I finally snapped out of my fear induced trance, taking a hesitant step forwards.

"Hands off, buddy. We have a strict "lookey no touchy" policy around here!" I called, trying my best to sound confident and keep my voice from cracking. Ever regret saying something? Yeah… I regretted speaking up big time right there, because muscles whipped around, seeming to just now notice my presence. I might be crazy, but he looked almost thrilled that another person joined the battle; like the thought of ripping my head off of my shoulders just made his day. He stomped over to me, each footstep feeling like it shook the ground. Finally, he stopped a few feet away from me. Compared to this guy, I looked like a freakin' action figure. I pulled out my knives, trying my best to stand my ground and keep my knees from shaking… it wasn't working. At all. They were practically knocking out Morse code for "Please don't eat me, Mr."

"You dare challenge me, boy?" He asked, anger evident in his tone. I'd like to tell you that I stuck it to him and called him out, but in all honesty I'm pretty certain the sound I made was somewhere between a high pitched squeak and "Help."

"Run, Dakota!" I heard Thalia yell, her voice weak and strained. I didn't need to be told twice, running circles around the giant man-beast. I hoped that by moving so fast I'd be able to find an opening to attack. He looked frozen in place like everyone else, except for one thing that made my stomach drop; his eyes. He was following me with his eyes as I sped around him, finally sticking out his arm in a blaze of speed, clothes lining me with his gigantic, meaty arm. I could feel my arm snap right there, crying out in pain as I went rolling end over end about 5 yards before smashing into a tree and coming to a halt. My vision turned red as I looked around, barely processing anything I saw, but I do remember seeing the giant creature picking up an unconscious Artemis and slinging her over his shoulder, before disappearing in a pillar of fire. I remember Thalia hobbling over to me, tears in her eyes as she looked at me, clearly horrified at what she saw. I tried to force myself not to look, but of all the times my stupid ADHD brain had to take over, it had to be now. I made the mistake of looking down at my legs… which were bent in all the wrong directions. I looked like what would happen if you gave a poseable action figure to a 2 year old. I felt Thalia's hand on my cheek, and could hear her talking but couldn't understand the words.

"-ay with me. Dako- you hear me? Don't close- Keep your eyes o- Dakota?! Medic!" She screamed. That was the last thing I remember hearing before passing out.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I woke up in a strange bed, staring up at the ceiling of a tent. For a second, I forgot everything that had happened and wondered if it were still summer, and we were still camping out at Mah-Kah-Wee Camp back in Orlando. I tried to sit up, and the searing pain immediately reminded me of all that had happened; the hunters, the attack… Artemis. I looked over and saw one of the hunters looking at me with shock, running to the entrance of the tent.

"Thalia! Someone get Thalia; he's awake!" She called, which really confused me. Before I could question what the heck was going on, goth girl herself burst into the tent, hurrying over to the side of my bed and looking more relieved to see me than anyone I've ever known, which I'll admit was actually really nice.

"Dakota… can you hear me?" She asked. I nodded my head, my throat feeling really dry and tasting like copper. I swallowed and spoke anyways.

"Where...am I?" I croaked, shocked at the sound of my own voice. I sounded like I tried to swallow a cheese grater; hoarse and kind of squeaky.

"You're in the infirmary; you really scared us you little turd." She tried to sound normal, but I could tell she meant it; I must have been hurt pretty badly. I moved my legs, and they felt like they were back in their proper place, so I tried to sit up again, ignoring the pain and Thalia telling me to stay down. I instantly, saw red and stars, the medic girl rushing over some weird looking drink and sticking a straw into my mouth. I took a sip, and was shocked that it tasted exactly like that blackberry pie I had for my 10th Birthday party… the one party where my dad actually decided to come out of his room and wish me a happy birthday. I felt better instantly, draining the glass down to the bottom, quite disappointed when it was all gone. I looked over at Thalia, and could see the pain in her eyes.

"How long was I out?" I asked, smirking and trying to lighten the mood. It seemed to work a little bit, but not nearly enough.

"Almost a week. Dakota, what did I tell you? I told you to stay put and out of harm's way. This is why! You could have died, and then what?" She asked, raising her voice quite a bit. I shrugged, still smirking.

"I don't know; is there a heaven in Greek mythology?" I asked playfully, earning a death stare from Thalia that said "this isn't a joke" but I didn't care; I thought it was pretty darn funny personally. I pushed my legs off of the bed, ignoring the initial pain and enjoying the feeling of the ground underneath me. After a few more minutes, I stood up. My legs were extremely wobbly, and felt like jello, but other than that the pain was gone.

"That's some miracle juice you've got there." I commented, Thalia raising an eyebrow and watching me carefully.

"It's called Nectar; the drink of the gods. It heals demigods when taken in small doses." She explained. I looked over at her curiously.

"What about in large doses?" I questioned. She simply make an explosion sound, gesturing with her hands for extra effect. I swallowed the lump that had suddenly formed in my throat, focusing on what really mattered.

"What do we do now?" I asked, not needing to clarify. Artemis was gone. Kidnapped. We couldn't just sit around and do nothing. Thalia looked at me sadly, taking in a deep breath.

"We're heading to Camp Half-Blood, and making sure that you get there safely." She said. I practically jumped up in indignation, but stopped myself, both because of the pain and because I could tell Thalia wasn't in the mood.

"You need training, Dakota. I've already arranged for Sara to be put in charge of the hunt while I'm gone." She explained. At first, I didn't understand but it all clicked after a minute.

"You're going after Artemis alone? Did you not see the giant freaking Hulk that kidnapped her? What was that guy?" I asked.

"Menoetius. And he was a titan." Thalia said, barely above a whisper, almost as if she were afraid to even use the name. I remembered hearing that name one time in my history class, and honestly I was really regretting not paying closer attention.

"Men...toe us? I thought I remembered him dying in Greek mythology?" I asked, Thalia rolling her eyes at my pronunciation of his name, the tiniest smirk on her face.

"Menoetius," She corrected slowly, so I could hear correctly. "And yes; Zeus banished him to Tartarus during the reign of the titans." She confirmed, making me feel even more lost.

"But… how in the heck is he here?" I asked, Thalia looking just as lost as I was.

"I really don't know… but answers are going to have to wait until later. Right now, you need to get packed; you're leaving in a few minutes." She commanded, heading over to her tent. I followed her, already feeling a lot better.

"And what about you?" I asked. Thalia was shoving some clothes into a duffle bag.

"I'm heading out as soon as I'm packed. I've got to follow the trail while it's still fresh. I should have gone right away, but… I wanted to make sure that you were ok first." She admitted. I was honestly really shocked and heart warmed to hear her say that; she genuinely cared about me and my well-being… it was a really nice feeling, way better than what I was used to; people only caring because they're knee-deep in daddy's back pocket.

"Yeah, and what if you find this titan guy, huh? What then? What's your plan to take him out all by yourself?" I asked, probably sounding a bit more bratty than I meant to. Thalia's hand hovered over a bag of what looked to be graham cracker squares, hesitating for a moment, before continuing shoving things into the bag.

"I'll think of something." She insisted. For a minute I just stood there. Thalia was smarter than this; she had to know that there was no chance of her actually being able to defeat that beast in battle all alone. And to be honest, I knew that she was probably right; I was undertrained and completely underprepared for any kind of actual battle; trying to fight the walking tank had more than proved that to me. But a part of me still knew that letting Thalia go out there on her own just wasn't a good idea. By the time I had finally snapped out of my trance, Thalia was already outside of her tent, her bag completely packed and sitting next to her. She placed a hand on my shoulder, looking me in the eyes.

"You go to Camp. There's a lot of people there who will be able to teach you to use your abilities and to hold your own in a fight… a few of them are very good friends of mine. Trust me, you'll fit right in there. I'll be fine; heck, I'll probably be back before you even notice I'm gone." She tried a little too hard to sound confident, like maybe she was trying to convince herself more than me. She must have noticed my skepticism, because she smiled and ruffled my curly hair.

"For what it's worth, I'm really glad that I got to meet you, Dak. Now get going; the Hunt is about ready to leave." She said. I looked around, shocked at how quickly they had taken down all the tents. There wasn't a shred of evidence that there had ever been a camp there; we were standing in the wilderness once again. Sara came up beside me, gesturing for me to follow her.

"Come on, Dak; we're leaving." She said, nodding to Thalia before placing her hand on my back and guiding me the other way. She handed me a silver bookbag that felt pretty heavy.

"Your stuff." She explained. Suddenly, I felt a familiar presence beside me, this time only jumping a little bit.

"Hey bro; thanks for like… totally saving my hide back there. Wicked cool of you." Brody said, patting me on the back. I smiled at him, glad that he was here with me again. But just as quickly I remembered that Thalia wasn't; she was heading out on her own, to face the giant titan who had almost killed me… and she was going in alone. I stopped jerkily, standing planted in the path. My mind was racing; I had to be some new form of crazy for thinking what I was thinking. Sara stopped as well, looking down at me. She didn't even look surprised; like she knew what was coming.

"You're going to go after her, aren't you?" She only half-asked. Without thinking, I nodded.

"Artemis may have been a goddess… but she was my friend. She took care of me when she really didn't have to, and even tried to teach me how to take care of myself. And Thalia is my friend too; they're really some of the only friends that I have. What kind of friend am I if I don't have her back when she needs me?" I asked, Sara smiling at me, and for the first time I felt like maybe I was beginning to earn the hunt's respect.

"I must tell you… if you go through with this, you may never know who your mother is." She warned, my head shooting up in shock.

"They know who my mother is? At Camp?" I asked excitedly.

"Well, no… but Camp is where demigods get claimed; you mother would almost certainly claim you. You would know who she is soon enough." Sara said, and for a moment I almost hesitated. My mother... I had so many questions I needed answered, and she was the only one who could answer them. Who was she? Why did she leave my dad? Why did she never visit or at least reach out to me? All of this was swimming through my head, but was quickly stomped out when I pictured Thalia standing alone against that monster. I tightened my jaw firmly, making up my mind.

"Sometime the family that matters the most isn't by blood." I decided, Sara's grin growing even wider. I felt a hand on my arm, looking over at Brody and already knowing what he was thinking.

"No, dude… I couldn't ask you to do that." I tried.

"Then, like… don't ask. Easy fix, man." He said, that classic chilled out smile on his face. I couldn't help but smile at him; something told me he would have my back to the very end. I looked back at Sara, nodding an unspoken thanks before grabbing Brody by the satchel straps and taking off at mach speeds back the way we came. It didn't take long for me to catch up with Thalia, who was shocked whenever Brody and I suddenly appeared in front of her.

"Dakota, what are you doing here?! You're supposed to be with Sara and the Hunt!" She commanded firmly, and for a minute I almost felt inclined to run back, but I shook the feeling off, planting my feet firmly.

"No way, Thalia; if you're doing this, I'm going with you." I insisted.

"I'm down for whatever." Brody admitted nonchalantly. Thalia shook her head, grabbing me by the collar of my jacket and dragging me back the way I came, but I brushed her off harshly.

"I'm not asking, Thalia." I said seriously and with enough finality that it made her hesitate for a second. That was all I needed.

"Artemis is my friend, and so are you! I have every bit as much right to try and save her as you do." I said. Thalia still looked more than a little annoyed… ok, furious. I sighed, looking her right in the eyes.

"Thalia… you, Artemis, and Brody are like… all I've got. My dad is too depressed to even notice that I'm not at school, and beyond that I don't have any family. You guys cared more about me these past few days than my dad has my entire life. I can't… I can't let you go in all alone, with no one watching your back. I know I don't have much training… but that doesn't mean I can't help save my friend." I said quietly. I really meant every word, and I guess Thalia could tell, because she didn't say anything, standing there like a statue, her face void of expression. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she sighed.

"We're heading west. We'll travel until dark, then set up camp." She said, making me smirk.

"Alright, sounds like a plan." I agreed, Brody nodding his head.

"Sure, man; let's hit it." He agreed, pulling out his Ukulele. Before he could even pluck a string, Thalia spoke up.

"You strum that thing one time, and I'm breaking it over my knee." She growled, Brody immediately slinging it back around his back. Just like that, we were headed off into the unknown, to find and save our friend.


	6. Chapter 5: We Try To Have A Campout

We hiked in silence for about 3 hours, stopping every once in a while to catch our breath. Thalia claimed that she was following some trail, and Brody agreed that he could smell the trail as well, and I really had no choice but to believe them. After a little while, Thalia found a little rock overhang, stopping and putting her stuff down.

"We're camping here tonight. Brody, you clean this place up a bit. Dak, you're with me. We're getting firewood." She commanded, Brody nodding and began picking up some fallen sticks and leaves off of the rock ground, Thalia and I hiking out into the woods, picking up the nice, medium sized sticks and branches as we went along. I tried to gauge what Thalia was thinking, but it was near impossible; she could keep a straight face that would make statues jealous. Before I could say something, she spoke up.

"You know, you really should have gone to Camp. You coming with me… it's stupid, reckless, and could seriously get you killed." She said. Her voice was level and calm; she had accepted the fact that I was here to stay. I tried to be upbeat and lighten the mood, smiling and shrugging to myself.

"I mean, who wants to go to some crummy summer camp, anyways?" I tried, and Thalia actually smiled a little bit, shaking her head.

"You know, you remind me of a friend of mine; he's pretty reckless too… always jumping right in to help a friend before giving it a second thought." She stated, picking up another log. She looked back at me, smiling as though she were seeing someone else.

"What ended up happening to him?" I asked, Thalia laughing.

"Oh, he's fine believe it or not; He's actually one of the instructors at Camp; Swordsmanship. When we get back to camp, I'll introduce you." She promised. We kept walking in silence for a little while, but I had a few questions.

"So, I noticed that there aren't any boy hunters… I'm guessing it's girl exclusive?" I asked, Thalia seeming to think the question was absurd.

"Of course. When you become a Hunter of Artemis, you swear off falling in love, and pledge yourself to Artemis. In return, you're granted a place among her hunters… and immortality." She finished, and I about fell over.

"Immortality?! Hang on… you're immortal? As in, never die or grow old immortal?! How old are you actually? Wait, that's rude to ask a lady how old she is…. Wait I don't care I need to know!" I rambled, Thalia sighing.

"Yes, I'm immortal. We don't age, but we can be killed in combat. I'm actually about 18 years old, if you don't count the time when I was turned into a tree. And for your information, it is considered rude to ask how old a lady is." She ended sourly. I blinked twice, the thought not seeping all the way in.

"Yeah, ok… like you really care that I know how old you are." I replied coyly, picking up some more smaller sticks. She looked like she was about to fire back at me, but just settled for rolling her eyes and sighing once again, mumbling something about 'little brother' under her breath. After we gathered together a few more branches, we headed back to the camp. Brody had actually cleaned it up really nicely, and already had our sleeping bags laid out and everything. Thalia set up the wood, then did one of the coolest things I've ever seen. She put her palms together, and closed her eyes. When she opened them, she was holding lightning… in her hands. She pushed her palms outward, the lightning striking the wood with a tiny pop and sparking it ablaze.

"Whoa! What?! That's freaking sweet! How did you do that?" I asked, Thalia obviously enjoying my surprise a little bit, though she tried to hide it.

"Well, when your dad is the Lord of the Sky, it kinda comes with a few perks." She explained. It took me a minute to piece it together.

"Wait… your dad is Zeus?" I asked. Maybe I was just being paranoid, but I swear I heard some thunder booming far away. Thalia looked away, nodding.

"That's so cool! Can you summon big ones too?" I asked, Thalia nodding.

"On certain occasions; but it drains me pretty badly, so I try not to unless I have to." She explained, turning over some of the logs.

"So Brody, I've been meaning to ask you; that journal of yours wouldn't happen to say anything about guys in weird masks?" I asked. Thalia looked over at Brody, curiosity obvious in her eyes.

"Journal? What journal?" She asked, Brody looking scared and nervous all at once. He looked over at me cautiously; his eyes were practically screaming 'Can we trust her?'. After a second I nodded, Brody reaching into his bag and pulling out the faded book. He began leafing through the pages, closing it when he reached the end.

"Nope, sorry dude. Nothing here about crazy freaks in weirdo masks." He informed.

"None of this makes any sense; why in the world would anyone want to kidnap a goddess?" I asked, looking back and forth between the 2 of them curiously, but they both looked just as lost as I was.

"He said that they needed Artemis for something…" Thalia said. The look on her face made it clear that she was thinking this over as well, but after a moment she shook her head.

"Look, we don't have time to sit around thinking about this. We need to focus on the task at hand; freeing Lady Artemis." Thalia stated firmly, Brody and I both nodding. She was right; the hows and whys didn't really matter. What did matter was making sure that Lady Artemis made it out of there safely. We all sat by the fire, enjoying the heat and the sounds of crickets chirping in the background. For a while, no one said anything, until Thalia spoke up.

"So, Dakota… you sure your dad isn't going to be worried about you? Have you even told him you're all right?" She asked. I couldn't help but chuckle sadly at the thought of my dad actually realizing that I was missing. Back when I was still in Edgewater, we had a routine; I would call his "personal" number, his secretary Megan would answer the phone, I would tell her I'm still alive and doing fine, and she would "relay my message for me". I looked up at Thalia, shrugging.

"My dad doesn't even know I'm not at school. To be honest, I don't really think he even cares." I said bitterly, Thalia nodding in understanding. Brody pulled a library book from the school out of my bag, flipping through the pages before taking a huge bite. He continued reading, as though the giant bite out of the top of the book didn't bother his reading at all.

"I know what you mean; it was the same thing with my mom" Thalia explained

"She was a famous actress back in the 80s; caught Zeus' eye and I was born. But when Zeus left, she couldn't stand the thought of not being able to get his attention, so she turned to alcohol. I ended up running away because couldn't stand being around her any more." She explained. As weird as it seems, it actually made me feel a bit relieved to hear her story; it made me feel like I wasn't alone.

"My dad... he's pretty famous too. He never told me much about my mother, other than that they met after one of his Olympic competitions. He told me that she was stunning and powerful, but after she left it drove him into a deep depression; I was raised by my caretaker, Sarah… she ended up getting fired after I was transferred full-time to Edgewater Prep." I explained. Thalia looked at me with curiosity.

"Your dad was an Olympian? I mean, he was in the Olympics?" She asked. I nodded, Thalia looking even more confused. I sighed in defeat; I hated having to tell people my last name.

"Jack Lilienthal." I said barely above a whisper, but Thalia heard it, nodding slowly.

"The Olympic Sprinter for Team USA. Didn't he win, like.. 4 gold medals?" She asked.

"5. And he has all of them tucked neatly away in a box at the bottom of his closet." I said bitterly. Thalia shook her head; I could tell by the expression on her face that she actually understood my pain. I mean, all my life people have been telling me they "understand what I'm going through", but I felt like Thalia actually did. In a lot of ways, she and I were the same. I stood up, stretching my legs.

"But yeah; I don't expect that my dad will ever know I'm missing; even if the school tries to contact him, they'll just get his secretary, and to be honest, she and I never really got along so I doubt the message will ever even reach him." I said with a laugh, sitting back down after a moment and looking up at Thalia.

"You think we even have a chance? To actually pull this off, I mean." I whispered. We were all thinking it, so I figured I might as well ask. Brody swallowed his pages with a gulp; pretty much how we were all feeling. Thalia tried to put on a brave face, and it actually kind of worked; she looked like she had seen her fair share of battles before.

"I really don't know, Dak. But we have to try something; the longer we take, the longer Lady Artemis is in the grasp of that… thing." Thalia spat the last part with venomous hate. I could almost feel my knees knocking again just thinking about that beast, but I also felt a steely resolve form in the pit of my stomach when I imagined Artemis being chained up, bruised and beaten by that monster. I pulled out one of my blades, examining it as it seemed to glow a blue hue in the light of the full moon. Thalia looked at it curiously, and after a minute I noticed, holding it out to her.

"Artemis gave these to me as a gift… She told me that they were made of a special kind of silver." I explained, but Thalia seemed to be more interested in the handle for some reason.

"This is made of… palm wood?" She asked,emphasizing the word palm like it meant something. If it did, I didn't get it.

"I think so, why?" I asked. For a split second, Thalia looked like a deer in headlights, but instantly hardened her expression, shrugging.

"It's nothing. Leto, the mother of Artemis and Apollo, gave birth to them under a palm tree… that's probably why she made the handles out of palm wood." Thalia explained, but something about the tone in her voice made it clear that wasn't what she was originally thinking. I decided to let it go, taking the blade back from her carefully.

"You know, Lady Artemis must really like you, Dakota; I don't think that she's ever treated a boy with such kindness." Thalia mused. I raised an eyebrow curiously, Thalia actually laughing.

"Usually she turns them into animals… most of the time it's a Jackelope." She informed. I pictured myself as an antlered bunny, running around for my life in a panic, forced to eat glorified salad and grass for the rest of my life. I must have looked pretty funny, because Thalia burst out into tears she was laughing so hard. When she finally calmed down, she reached over and touched the leather jacket I was wearing, examining it like she had the blade.

"Really nice… I've never seen Artemis give any boy so many gifts." She commented. It almost sounded like she was trying to figure out why; like there was some specific reason Artemis had chosen to be kind to me. She shrugged it off, poking at the fire with a stick.

"So Thalia; about your friends at camp…" I began, Thalia smiling brightly.

"Yeah, I've got a few. We've been through a lot together… a whole lot." She explained. I sat on the edge of my log, wanting to hear more. Thalia noticed and smirked, rolling her eyes and sighing.

"We've been through everything together; fighting monsters, stopping titans, saving the world on more than one occasion." She listed off, and I was completely shocked.

"Hang on… the world almost ended? TWICE?!" I asked; I hoped 'multiple times only meant twice… I don't think I could have handled it if she was like "Nah, like..12". But she nodded, looking over at me curiously.

"Remember that giant storm that moved through New York a few years ago?" She asked. I tried to remember, but a few years ago I was like… 7 years old, so I probably wasn't even paying that much attention. Thalia could tell I didn't remember, shrugging.

"Well, that was actually Typhon; a giant titan monster who almost wiped out all of the western hemisphere." She explained, and I could feel my heart racing a thousand miles per hour. This kind of stuff happened on a regular basis? I was going to have to fight monsters and titans and whatever the frack else for the rest of my life?! As if on cue, I heard a stick snap somewhere in the woods behind us, Thalia freezing up. She slowly reached over for a can of mace that was lying right next to her, and I couldn't help but picture her spraying some unsuspecting monster in the eyes, screaming heroically. Her hand wrapped around the can, and to my surprise, it began to stretch out and extend until she was holding a full-sized spear; the same one I had seen her using when the hunt was attacked. She motioned for me to stay quiet, sneaking off into the woods without a sound. For a few moments, it was just me and Brody, who had fallen asleep with a page or 2 hanging out of his mouth, slumped over against a rock in a very uncomfortable looking position. The silence was violently broken as I heard a loud roar followed by the sound of Thalia screaming in furry. I unsheathed my blades, charging into the forest. I spotted Thalia, who was slashing and stabbing at what appeared to be 3 giant snake… that spit fire. She saw me out of the corner of her eye, keeping her attention on the snakes.

"Basilisks! Don't let them touch you; their skin is poisonous!" She yelled. I sped over to her, standing right next to her, weapons drawn. The snakes didn't seem to like my arrival, hissing at me.

"Dak, move!" Thalia screamed. Time slowed down, and I saw a pillar of fire erupt from one of their mouths. Even though I was moving extremely fast, the fire came at me at a remarkable speed; It was much harder to dodge; I was just thankful for the fire-resistant silver coat as I sidestepped just in time, my eyebrows feeling a bit singed. I didn't even have time to fully turn around before I saw one of the snakes lunge at me at lightning speed. I heard Thalia scream my name, sticking my hands out defensively. What happened next was completely crazy and lucky and unbelievable all at once. I felt my body almost heating up; like how it feels to scoot your socks across the carpet, but all over. When I finally had the courage to open my eyes, I felt… fine. I turned around and saw the snake smash into the tree behind me, taking a huge bite into the bark. I looked over at Thalia, whose eyes were the size of golf balls.

"Dak… look at your hands." She whispered. I looked down, and about fell over myself. My hand was vibrating back and forth at an incredible speed, as was the rest of my body; I looked like a poorly taken picture. Just as soon as the heatwave came, it left. My body stopped vibrating and I dropped down to one knee, feeling that familiar fatigue taking over. Thalia didn't waste any time, stabbing through the one Basilisk that had chomped into the tree, the creature exploding into dust. The other 2 lunged at her, and despite feeling woozy I dug deep and sped over, yanking her out of the way of their blast. I staggered on my feet, seeing doubles for a second. Moving at mach speeds confused the snakes long enough that Thalia was able to get another good stab in, skewering the second snake on her spear, blasting the creature open like a pinata and raining down golden flakes. My eyes grew when I noticed that Thalia had her back turned to the final snake for a split second; but the creature saw its opening, leaping up at Thalia's back. She managed to whip around and flinch, preparing for the worst, but thankfully I still had enough energy to speed up one last time. Time slowed down, and I threw one of my blades at the creature; the Pugio flew end over end before stabbing into the creature, knocking it off course and narrowly missing Thalia. The snake wriggled in pain before eroding away to dust. Thalia stood there for a second, heaving a little bit before quickly running over to me. She pulled out one of those graham cracker squares, sticking it in my mouth and telling me to chew it. As I did, I felt my strength return; not as much as the miracle juice, but enough that I was aware of my surroundings and could shakily stand on my own 2 feet. I felt like a nervous wreck; so many things were happening to me all at once; the gods being real, being able to outrun a bullet, Artemis getting kidnapped by a giant Titan, and now my abilities seemed to be expanding. I wasn't sure how much more of this crazy, life-threatening existence I could take; a huge part of me just wanted to run back to Edgewater and pretend none of this ever happened. I tried to calm myself down, taking in a deep breath. Thalia looked over at me with genuine concern, and I felt bad so I forced myself to smile.

"Well…that was really fun. I need some food now. And sleep." I sighed. Thalia nodded, both of us making our way out of the woods. Thalia quickly packed up our tents and put out the fire, much to my confusion.

"Monsters are onto our scent; we need to keep moving." She said sadly; I already felt like I couldn't take another step, but clenched my jaw and nodding, picking up my bag and kicking Brody's hoof. He woke up with a bleat, wiping the soggy paper from the corner of his mouth before looking around.

"Dude… is it morning already?" He asked groggily. I actually chuckled a little bit despite the situation.

"No, dude; monster attack. We need to get moving." I informed. Brody nodded and staggered to his feet, only half awake as he grabbed his uke and bag. We trudged along into the night, travelling for another half an hour, until we finally spotted a road. And what happened to be on the other side of the street but a motel; a glorious, heavenly, ratty looking motel. It looked… exactly how you would picture a motel looking; about 3 and a half stars, tops. And that's only because we ended up finding out it had a hot tub. At first, I was seriously wondering how we were going to pay… that is until Thalia reached into her bag and pulled out a wad of cash thicker than my arms. Ok, so my arms aren't the biggest ever, but still; it was a lot of money. She paid for a room with 2 beds, and we got our key, making our way there. Thalia opened the door, and to be honest I was quite surprised that it was much nicer on the inside than the outside. We threw our 3 bags into the closet, taking a moment to catch out breath. Thalia used the bathroom first. I heard the shower turn on, and my brain started screaming "YES! SHOWER!" After about a half an hour, she came back out, wearing a pair of fuzzy silver pajama pants with a matching top. She flopped onto her bed, sighing deeply.

"I left you some pajamas in there, Dak; the water's still hot." She mumbled against her pillow, clearly much more wiped out than she let on. I made my way into the bathroom, looking at myself in the mirror for the first time since I had left Edgewater. I looked different; like I was carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders. I tried my best to clean off my clothes in the sink before hanging them to dry on the towel rack and hopping into the shower. The hot water felt more amazing than anything I had ever felt before; especially when I saw the flecks of golden dust washing down the drain. I washed my hair and cleaned myself up before finally shutting off the water and drying myself off. I glanced at the clock on the wall; 12:30 am. I groaned and pulled on the pajamas; they were the softest pair I had ever worn, and felt like being hugged by a silvery cloud. I flopped onto my bed; Brody already passed out in the recliner. I don't know if it was the fatigue or the use of new abilities, but it wasn't long before my eyelids closed and I drifted off to sleep.


	7. Chapter 6: The Secretary of Destiny

I tried to get some sleep that night, and if you really think about it, it should have been easy; I had worn myself ragged the whole day, and had gone from hiking my feet sore to fighting off evil bloodthirsty snake-monsters. You'd think that after all that, I'd be able to just tank out and sleep the whole night away. Unfortunately, even the glorious act of sleeping sucks for demigods; apparently another 'perk' of being the son of a goddess is that I'm prone to weird and often violent nightmares. For a while, I totally blacked out, and wasn't dreaming of anything in particular, but soon a landscape began forming in my mind. The first thing that popped up was a golden brown wheat field, stretching as far as the eye could see, with the exception of the large, sharp gray mountains I could see in the background. The sky was an ominous gray colour, dark thunderheads clouds looming in the distance and slowly drifting towards me. A chilling wind whipped all around, blowing and bending the wheat charts sideways. For a moment, I was just trying to figure out where I was, still more than a little bit dazed. I couldn't tell if I were dreaming or if I had somehow been teleported in my sleep. My thoughts were interrupted when I noticed her; a lady in an all white dress suit, sitting behind a large, wooden desk in the middle of the field, typing away on her laptop. After that, it didn't take me very long to figure out this was a dream; I mean, come on. There's no way she was getting ANY wifi reception way out there. I slowly inched my way towards her, curiosity getting the best of me. After all, this was MY dream, so I should be able to recognize anyone in it, right? Apparently not, because as soon as I was close enough to make out the details of her face, I instantly knew we had never met before. She was an older lady, maybe in her mid-50s just based on looks. Her long, golden hair had strands of grey and white sprinkled in, and was pinned in a tight bun on the back of her head. She was typing like a complete machine, her fingers looking like they had a mind of their own as they danced across the keyboard with an elegance an precision that can only come from having typed for quite a long time. I felt like I was interrupting her, which sound hilarious considering this was my dream, but I still decided it may be best to try and sneak away; something about this whole situation didn't sit right. Before I could even make an attempt, the lady spoke up.

"Dakota. I've been expecting you. Sit." She said. Her voice was calm, smooth, and in control; it had an air about it that made me feel like she was in charge even inside my own dream. She snapped her fingers, the sound reverberating through the entire area. A chair appeared in front of her desk, and after hesitating for a moment, I finally sat down. As I waited for her to finish typing, I couldn't help but feel like I was back in the principal's office yet again. I tried my best to wait patiently, but that's like saying 'I tried my best to gouge my eyeball out with a needle quietly'. She didn't say a word for the longest time, simply gazing over at me and eyeing me up and down as her fingers typed away, examining me like she was trying to make a decision before her gaze shifted back to the screen once more. If you're anything like me, or if you have ADHD, when you're curious about something and trying to stay quiet, you get antsy. REALLY antsy; you can feel this knot forming in your stomach and you feel literally uncomfortable. Finally, after what felt like eternity but was in reality no more that a couple of minutes, I broke.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" I asked as politely as I could. Again she looked up from her screen, a blank, calculative expression etched onto her face as she glared into my very soul. I felt about a ton and a half lifted off of me when she finally looked away.

"That's none of your concern, Dakota Lilienthal. You aren't here to ask questions." She stated, again ignoring me and turning her attention to her computer screen. Another long silence followed, making me feel every bit as fidgety as before.

"Then, why am I here?" I whispered, trying not to be annoying but obviously failing as she rolled her eyes, this time not even bothering to look up.

"I brought you here so that I could determine whether or not you could be of any use to me." She explained, the fine in her voice making it clear that she felt this explained everything.

"So... you brought me to my dream so that you could see if I was useful or not?"

"Precisely."

"...And am I?" I questioned, really not wanting to get on the lady's nerves. She gave a small half-shrug nonchalantly.

"I haven't made up my mind yet; it depends on how I want the story to pan out." She admitted, and for some reason, even though I didn't have the slightest clue what she meant, I felt as though I had swallowed a bowling ball.

"How you want the... what does that even mean? What story?" I asked, and for a second I could have sworn I saw the tiniest pull of a smile teasing the corner of her mouth. She looked back up at me from her screen, again looking at me like I was some kind of exhibit, before finally nodding her head, her fingers picking up speed.

"That, Mr. Lilienthal, was the right question." She whispered ominously. It took me until then to work up the courage that this was MY dream, and I wasn't gonna sit there being afraid of some 50 year old school principal who wasn't even real. I stood up and sped around to the other side of the desk, trying to see what in the world it was that she was typing. That's when the nightmare part started. I was moving at super speeds, but the lady in the chair moved just as quickly, looking over at me and shaking her head.

"I don't think you want to do that, Dakota." She warned, and to be honest, for some reason my whole body seemed to be screaming for me to get away from her, frozen in a perpetual flinch. Before I could even try to turn around, my eyes landed on her computer screen, and I felt as though my brain had been grated and melted all at once as I read.

_**I felt like I had been shocked by one of Thalia's lightning bolts as I jerked up out of bed, slowing down my breathing and trying to ignore the strong sense of Deja-Vu - **_

That's about as far as I could get before my eyes began to feel like they were literally being pulled out of their sockets with a pair of red-hit tweezers. I jerked away as quickly as possible, falling to my knees and grabbing at my eyes. It was the worst pain I had ever felt; it was like I had wrapped my brain in tin foil and shoved it in a microwave. Finally, after what felt like eternity, the pain started to fade away some and I was able to open my eyes. The old lady didn't move to try and help me, instead choosing to simply sit there and watch m struggle to my feet like she was trying to figure out the best way to detail this scene on paper.

"Wh-what the heck was that?" I screamed, still rubbing my sore, burning eyes. It felt like I had poured hot sauce into my eye sockets. She turned back to her screen, resuming her typing frenzy but maintaining eye contact with me the whole time.

"I tried to warn you, Mr. Lilienthal; mortals aren't meant to know their destiny." She explained, turning her eyes back to the screen and typing twice as fast, her fingers blurring as she went. I shook my head, trying to wrap my Kentucky-fried brain around what she had just said, but apparently I had overstayed my welcome.

"Well, I've gotten all I need from you for now, Dakota. You're free to go." She stated firmly, never breaking her gaze from the screen. Before I could even try and protest, she flicked her wrist towards me, and I suddenly felt the entire world around me begin to fade, until everything turned black.


End file.
